February 21st, 2014

by Ann Lyons

When companies seek our advice on their employee recognition programmes, these are some of the suggestions we make concerning the ‘presentation’ element of recognizing employees.

Notifying employees of their awards

Letter/card: Sending a personalised letter or card to an employee, informing them of their award can also be used to thank them for their specific achievement.

Presentation pack: Including a well-designed Certificate of Appreciation with your letter in a quality A4 envelope, creates a pack which is then presented to employees.

Email: Email notifications are efficient at reaching employees quickly. It’s also easier for employees to access an online recognition programme from their desktop or mobile device when the login details are included in this email.

Recognising employees – publicly

Ideally, management will recognise employees publically, at an arranged gathering. Make the most of this special time and ceremony to really engage with employees. The letters or packs mentioned earlier can be presented to employees. Take photos of the recipients receiving their packs and include them in your company’s newsletter. Engraved glass awards are also easy to organise and present at these events.

Recognising employees – online

Your recognition can be repeated via your company-branded, online employee recognition programme. You can also highlight employee mile-stones and achievements to your workforce, via internal social networking sites. This helps to create positive conversations among employees and generate good-will in your organisation.

The Award

Many companies like to mark an important mile-stone or recognise a job well-done with an award for their employees. Line-managers can take the opportunity to present the awards and acknowledge their employees. If the awards take the form of tangible gifts, they will continue to serve as a reminder of your good-will, well after the presentation.

Easy for Human Resources

There are several opportunities to recognise employees and recognition is best delivered via a variety of people and ways. This alleviates pressure on Human Resources to have everything and everyone ready for a once-off event. It also enables your entire organisation to demonstrate and celebrate employee achievements.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like further advice on recognising employees.